M PuocEKJjiNGS i>e Tnn 



An assured consequence of the existence of a waiting-list will 

 be that those Fellows who have always attended to tliis duty must 

 regard their old task from a new point of view. Hitherto they 

 have had to assess the absolute qualifications for Fellowship of 

 each individual candidate for election at anytime. Henceforward 

 tliey will have to adjudge the relative merits of all the candidates 

 for election at a j^iven time and to decide which of these 

 candidates r-re likely, if elected, to render tlie Society most 

 assistance. Again custom must prove powerful ; the task of re- 

 orientating ourselves may be hard and slow. In time, however, 

 we should succeed in adjusting ourselves to our new duty. 

 When we do succeed in this, we shall have the satisfaction of 

 knowing that, at last, the business of bringing the Society into 

 conformity with modern needs has really commenced. Once 

 tluit business has begun, its fulfilment-, though necessarily slow, 

 should be automatic and therefore assured. 



AVhat now concern us, however, are certain difficulties that 

 must be overcome before we can begin to carry out our altered 

 (hities. We are not in a position to hel]) the Society to bring 

 about the improvements our new bye-law is intended to effect 

 until our Council shall devise certain new regulations and modify 

 certain existing ones. 



The first difficulty to be overcome relates to the ' Hays of 

 Election.' Hitherto we have balloted for the election of new 

 Fello\\s at practically every oi'dinary meeting throughout a 

 session. This arrangement was satisfactory and convenient when 

 the only issue before FeUows present and voting was the eligibility 

 for election of an individual candidate. In future the issue 

 must include a comparative estimate of the merits of all the 

 candidates whose claims have to be considered in the course of 

 an entire session. Under the new conditions, therefore, our 

 present practice of taking a piecemeal interest in the elections 

 of a whole year must prove so inconvenient as to be intolerable. 



Council may, we hope, determine on our behalf that, in 

 future sessions, meetings for election be confined to some 

 ])aiticular date or dates. When and how often, in a given 

 session, elections should be held it will be for Council to advise. 

 Jkit we as Fellows may legitimately represent that the fewer 

 the days for election in a given session, the greater wiil be 

 the convenience to those Fellows who take part iu the work. 

 What is of more consequence than the general convenience of 

 Fellows, is that the fewer the days of election in a particular 

 session may be, the more effective must be the discharge of the 

 duty now devolving upon us. 



A more inijiortant difficulty is that connected with the 

 ' Selection of Candidates.' The object of our Society is the 

 cultivation of the science of natural history in all its branches. 

 We are on a footing of absolute equality in so far as concerns our 



